colIndex for td-, th- and col-Elements

APIs
1

I know, there exists celIndex, but it would be more usefull, if there was something like colIndex.

Additionaly, i would like a api like this on tr-Elements: tr.cellByColIndex(index);

Often we have to find cells in other rows that are in the same column. This works as long as there is no colspan, but if there is one, i have no quick access to the element like tr.children[index]

This api would also make sence on col-elements, since they represent a column.

Edit: changed category to “APIs”.

3

You mean tr > :nth-child(index), and no, it won’t work for the reasons the OP listed - if there’s any colspans (or rowspans from previous rows!), the child index doesn’t necessarily match the column index.

4

It’s a good idea. Along with this it would be worth considering table.cellByIndex(colIndex, rowIndex)

There does need to be consideration about what happens if indexing a spanned cell.

| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 0 | 1     | 3 |
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |

If I try and index cell (2, 1) would I get null because that cell doesn’t exist or would I get the cell (1,1) because it’s spanned into that indexed location? Should there also be properties on the element to tell if it’s spanned and which elements it spans over?

5

Yes, table.cellByIndex would be more important.

I just found the “nth-column-pseudo selector” in the css3 spec: https://www.w3.org/TR/selectors4/#the-nth-column-pseudo

So we can use this it lands in Browsers:

querySelectorAll('.myTable td:nth-column('+index+')')

But a js-api would be great too.